Shutter-fastener



'(Np Model.) Q

R. N. MARTZ.

SHUTTER FASTENER.

No. 592304. Patented Nov. 2, 1897.

Will

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

RANDOLPH N. MARTZ, OF FREDERICK, MARYLAND.

SH UTTER-FASTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersIE atent'No. 592,804, dated November 2, 1897. Application filed July 15,1897. Serial No. 64 4,709. (No model.)

To (LZZ whom/it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RANDOLPH N. MARTZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Frederick, in the county of Frederick and State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Shutter-Fastener, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in shutter bowers and fasteners of that class wherein a pivoted arm is employed with a sill-plate to hold the shutter bowed ,at desired positions with relation to the plane of the window.

The object of my invention is to improve the construction of the various appliances with a View to shedding the water or snow and to prevent them from becoming clogged up by dirt or otherwise obstructed by the snow and ice to interfere with the proper operation of the fastening devices.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved locking means which is made to serve the purposes of a double-lock to add greater security to the fastening of the shutter.

A further object of my invention is to provide such a double locking contrivance which shall be automatic in its operation when .the shutter is closed and enable the shutter to be closed from the outside of a room or other apartment, which is a very desirable and advantageous feature in this class of devices.

A further object of the invention is to improve the parts in minor details with a View to promoting the simplicity of the devices, in creasing the efliciency thereof, and of rendering the same cheap of manufacture.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in the novel combinations of elements and in the construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand my invention, I have illustrated the preferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective viewof a shutter bower and fastener constructed in accordance with my invention and showing the parts in their closed and locked positions. Fig. 2 is a view showing the parts in plan when the shutter is opened, the dotted lines representing one of the positions of the parts when the shutter is bowed or partially opened.

which is preferably cast in a single piece of metal, although it may be wrought or otherwise produced. At one end this rod is turned outward slightly and provided with an eye 2, by which the rod is adapted for engagement with the sill-plate or with the holding-stop. The other extremity of the rod or arm is enlarged somewhat, as at 3, and from this enlarged end is extended the lug or arm 4, which is adapted to fit in the bracket and to serve as a guide to the rod when the shutter is closed. This arm 4 also serves as a pusher or clearer to remove snow, ice, or dirt from the bifurcated bracket, thus keeping the latter clear from obstructions and insuring the easy and free working of the rod within the bracket.

The bracket is indicated at 5 in the drawings. It consists of a single casting with an arched body 6, one end of which terminates in a foot 7, through which is a perforation for the passage of one of the three fasteningscrews by which the bracket is attached to the shutter. At the opposite end of the arched body it is formed with laterally-extending perforated lugs 8 8, forming two other feet, and these lugs 8, in connection with the part 7, provide three bearing points or feet for the bracket to rest against the shutter, whereby the bracket may be secured rigidly to the shutter to hold it from displacement thereon. Between the foot 7 and the feet 8 the arched form of the body 6 provides a vertical opening or recess for the passage of snow and water, and the body or casting is furthermore divided or bifurcated longitudinally from the end at which the foot 7 is formed to the opposite straight end of the body, this straight end of the divided body being provided with a web 9, which joins the top and bottom sides of the body together and contributes to the stability and strength of the structure of the bifurcated bracket. I am thus enabled to produce a bracket of spider-like construction in which all the parts are open or exposed to overcome lodgment or accumulation of dirt, snow, and ice, and said bracket has three bearing-points 011 the shutter for the reception of the fastening-screws. As water or snow cannot lodge on the bracket to any appreciable extent, the water cannot find its way into the screw-holes to rot the wood at the places where the bracket is attached to the shutter. At one of its angles or corners the bracket is formed with a pair of lugs or cars 10, which stand out from the bracket a suitable distance and which are inclined to assume a diagonal relation to the medial line of the bracket. These ears provide convenient means for the attachment of the vertical pivot-pin 11, by which the enlarged end of the rod 1 may be pivotally attached to the bracket. This construction of the bracket will allow it to pass around the molding on the side frame to better advantage than if a straight bracket were used, and this is particularly true where flush hinges are used to attach the shutter to the windowframe, whereby the bracket is adapted to provide for the proper attachment or engagement of the holding-rod with either of the stops on the sill under all conditions of adjustment of the shutter or its application to buildings.

The sill-plate which I employ is of novel construction to enable it to be used without liability of clogging by accumulations of dirt, or by snow, or by ice, and this sill-plate is furthermore adapted for use in connection with the holding-rod and with the catch to provide a double locking contrivanee. The sill-plateis castin a single piece for simplicity, strength, and cheapness, and it is indicated at 12 in the drawings.

The sill-plate consists of a base 13, a series of studs or posts 14: 15, and a bevel-faced keeper 16, all constituting the single casting. The base is provided on its lower side with narrow bosses 16, which serve to raise the base slightly above the face of the sill to which it may be applied. The studs or posts are spaced at suitable intervals on the base to enable the eye-formed free end of the rod 1 to be engaged with either of the studs, and the studs 11 at the ends of the base are hollow to receive screws by which the sill-plate may be fastened rigidly to the sill of the window-casing. These hollow studs are designed to be closed by the heads of the fasextent as to interfere with the free operation of the shutter bower and fastener. The keeper 16 extends laterally from one side of the base at the middle thereof, and this keeper has abeveled face or nose in advance of a notch or recess formed in the top face of the keeper between its beveled nose and the base of the sill-plate.

The catch 17 is peculiarly constructed to make it serve as a double lock to engage with the keeper and with the solid middle studs 15 of the sill-plate, whereby the catch adds to the security and reliability of the shutter-fastener. The catch is castin a single piece of metal to provide the shank 18, the curved head 19, the lifting finger-piece 20, and the loop or bail 21. The shank of the catch is adapted, when the shutter is moved to its closed position, to fit between the adjacent middle posts 15 of the sill-plate, in order that the head 10 of the catch may lit around said posts 15, the head being curved or bowed in opposite directions to partially embrace both of said posts when the shutter is closed. The finger-piece 20 extends up wardly from the head at a point midway between its branched and curved ends, and this finger-piece is preferably curved so as to overhang the catch, to enable the fingers to grasp the lifting-piece easily and firmly to raise the catch when it is desired to disengage the same from the sill-plate. This catch is further provided with a depending lug or shoulder 22, which is made as an integral part of the shank 18, and the lower edge or face of this shoulder or lug of the catch is beveled or inclined, at the end of which i11- clined face the shoulder terminates abruptly. The catch is hung, by the peculiar means presently described, on the shutter in a position to enableits inclined lug 22 to ride upon the beveled face of the keeper 1(3 of the sillplate in the operation of closing the shutter, and this inclined lug 22, riding on the beveled keeper, causes the catch to be raised for the head 19 to slide over the posts 15 on the sill-plate until thehead clears the posts 15, and the abrupt rear edge of the ing 22 comes opposite to the recess in the keeper 16, at which time the catch drops by gravity to cause the shouldered lug 22 to engage with the shoulder of the keeper 16 and the head 19 to engage with the posts 15 of the sillplate.

From this description it will be seen that I have provided a novel form of sill-plate and catch in which the parts cooperate to produce a double look when the shutter is closed, thus contributing to the security of the fastening contrivance, and the catch operates automatically to engage with the sill-plate, because the beveled and shoulder lug of the catch operates to raise the same for the head and said lug to engage with the posts and the keeper of the sill-plate during the operation of closing the shutter, whereby the shutter may be closed advantageously from the outside as well asfrom the inside of a room or apartment.

The hinge plate or bracket by which the catch is attached to the shutter is indicated at 25 in the drawings. This hinge-plate is a single casting provided at an intermediate point of its length with a bowed or offset portion 26 and widened at its lower end to form the shoulders 27. The ends of the bin ge-plate are perforated for the passage of screws by which said plate may be attached to the shutter. This hinge plate or bracket is fitted or passed through the loop or bail of the gravitycatch in a manner to have the end bar of the bail to fit in the offset portion of the plate or bracket, and the latter is then fastened in proper position to the shutter for the catch to engage the sill-plate. The gravity-catch is thus pivotally attached to the bracketplate, because the end bar of its loop or bail is free to turn in the offset in the plate, and when the catch is free from the sill-plate, as when the shutter is partially or Wholly opened, the catch bail or loop rests upon the shoulders 27. These shoulders thus serve to limit and arrest the downward movement of the gravity-catch, and they also serve to sustain the catch in a position substantially at right angles to the face of the shutter and in a position where the catch may easily lift or raise when its beveled and shouldered lug 22 rides upon the keeper 16 of the sill-plate.

A stud or post 30 is provided for attachment to the sill at a suitable point at one side of the sill-plate. This stud or post is cast in a single pieceof cylindrical form, and through its bore or opening may be passed a screw to fasten the stud or post rigidly to the sill of the window-casing in a position to be engaged by the eye-formed end of the holding-rod 1 when the shutter is opened the full distance.

The operation may be described briefly as follows: The shutter may be bowed more or less and held in its partially-opened positions by engaging the rod 1 with either of the posts 14 15 of the sill-plate. To open the shutter its full limit, it is thrown back against the wall of the building and the rod 1 is engaged with the post 30. To close the shutter, the rod 1 is disengaged and the shutter moved inwardly to cause the gravity-catch to engage with the sill-plate in the manner described. This operation of closing the shutter may be performed from either the outside or inside of the dwelling. If the shutter is closed from the inside, it is preferable to adjust the rod 1 to engage with the stud or post 15 adjacent to the stud 30.

It is thought that the advantages of my improvement will be readily understood from the foregoing description,taken in connection with the drawing.

I am aware that changes in the form and proportion of parts and in the details of construction herein shown and described as the preferred embodiment of my invention may be made by a skilled mechanic without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages of my invention. I therefore reserve the right to make such modifications and alterations as fairly fall within the scope of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a holding-rod, of a sill-plate having a keeper, and a double catch arranged to engage with said sill-plate and with the keeper, such double locking engagement of the double catch with the keeper being effected without the intervention of the holding-rod with the keeper and said catch, as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination of a sill-plate having a keeper, of a gravity-catch having a lug to have locking engagement with the keeper and a head to have locking engagement with the sillplate, and a holding-rod adapted to be connected with the sill-plate but independent of the gravity-catch at all points of its adjustment, as and for the purposes described.

3. A sill-plate provided withspaced studs or posts and with a keeper, combined with a gravity-catch formed with a head to have looking engagement with the posts and with a shoulder to have locking engagement with the keeper, and a holding-rod apertured at one end to fit either of the posts of the sill-plate,as and for the purposes described.

4. A sill-plate having a plurality of spaced studs or posts on a common base and a keeper projecting laterally from one side of the base, combined with a gravity-catch to engage with the keeper and provided witha head to engage with certain of the studs of the sill-plate, and a holding-rod, as and for the purposes described.

5. A sill-plate having a plurality of posts and a bevel-faced keeper extending laterally from one side of said plate, combined with a gravity-catch having a beveled face to ride upon the keeper and provided with a head to engage with certain of the posts; said catch arranged to be coupled automatically to, and Y' to have double locking engagement with the sill-plate when the shutter is closed, and a holding-rod apertured to engage with the studded sill-plate independently of the gravity-catch, as and for the purposes described. 6. A gravity-catch provided on its lower side with a beveled and shouldered lug and with a branched head which projects beyond said lug, combined with a sill-plate having a beveled keeper in the path of said beveled lug on the catch and also provided with a plurality of posts to be engaged by the head of the catch, and a holding-rod to engage with the studded plate independently of the gravity-catch, whereby said catch may have double locking engagement with the sill-plate without adjusting the holding-rod to engage with the catch, as and for the purposes described.

7. The combination of a sill-plate provided In testimony that I claim the foregoing as with a plurality of studs or posts which promy own I haVe hereto affixed my signature in ject upwardly from, and are spaced at suitthe presence of two witnesses.

able intervals on, a common base, a holding- RANDOLPH N. MARTZ. 5 rod with an eye-formed end to engage either \Vitnesses:

of said posts, and a catch, as and for the pur- EDWIN C. MARKELL,

poses described. MARSHALL FoUT. 

